Involvement of NMDA and its receptor NMDAR in central mechanisms underlying stress-induced behavioral changes

The roles of NMDA and NMDAR involving in the mechanisms underlying stress-induced behavioral changes gained more and more attention. The findings showed that stress upregulate number or activity of NMDA and NMDAR in some brain regions associated with behaviors, such as hippocampus and amygdale. Injection of NMDAR antagonists into these regions prior to stress reduces anxiety and depression, suggesting they were important mediators between stress and behavior. Furthermore, neurogranin was also a downstream signal molecule involving in NMDAR-dependant signaling pathway. Studies on neurogranin and behavior may shed new light on the mechanism studies of relationship between brain and behavior